GM Barty's Lost Mine of Phandelver (Inactive)

Game Master GM Barty

"So where are the rest of your lot?", Idrix asks.

"Wise of ya ta stay out of the fight -- otherwise you'd ended up as dead as them," Rory attempts a comforting tone with the goblin. "Like my fiery friend says, though, we need ta know who else is down here, an' how many, an' where."

Droop stares confused at Idrix for a few seconds before finally deciphering what he means. He nod back toward the hallway. "They dead now! Wizard man send us here to help the other wizard man but he never want our help, we only sit here and Mosk makes Droop lick the floor and roll around for fun," he says.

The goblin eagerly answers Rory, "I can help new masters, they is nice men who let me live! The red men are in the next room a lot. Or is it the room after the next room, Droop no go in there before. Wizard man's room over there too. Big scary eyeball monster lives in big scary cave, and more red men on the other side with the slaves! Droop is helping?"

Zove brushes aside his exhaustion at the mention of slaves "...slaves? Man-slaves or more goblinoid-slaves like you?"

"I really hope the "eyeball monster" is the one we killed..."

"Eyeball monster?"

Rory hunches over and makes his hands into claws, imitating the nothic. "Like this? One big eye? Talks in your head? Dead now."

The dwarf waits for Droop to elaborate on the slaves for Zove before asking about the "wizard man" who sent Droop and the others to help the redbrands.

"Yes, you kill big eyeball monster? And you kill Mosk? Droop thinks he make sure to stay on your good side.

"Slaves is big and small humans, red ones feed one to the eyeball monster but sell others.

"Scary dark wizard man tells Cragmaw tribe things to do or he flay flesh from our bones! Droop never see him, he tell King Grol we go here to help red ones, and King Grol tell Mosk, and Mosk tell Droop."

"Good Droop! That's the kind of thing we want to know! Do you know where the wizard man and King Grol are now?"

"King Grol in Cragmaw Castle! Never see big scary wizard man. Droop helping?"

"Yes, Droop helping lots!" , Idrix replies, considerably cheerier.

How do we get to Cragmaw Castle from here? And are there any secret ways in?"

"Uh, hmm, let see. It...north? And west. No, just north, in the forest. Droop does not know the exact way, but goblins patrol around the town! Maybe you captures them and learn the secret ways?"

Wiping the blood from his mouth with a gentle cough and leans his bruised face into the torch light "...in the sands of Zakhara there is a bird of prey, 'elephant bird'...I think in the coastal common. It is a difficult hunt but the sand riders use a trick of light and shadow. The contrasting figures make it appear more of these elephant birds are near, and it seems to lure them out...they flock together."

"Perhaps to find these goblin outraiders we could use a similar tactic." he suggests, pointing at Droop.

Gelin frowns. "Use him as bait? But they're goblins. Aren't they just as likely to ignore him or kill him? What if they don't even know him?"

"I think Droop here can get the other goblins distracted! So we'll take care of them!"

"I'm sure they'd be happy to see a Very Important Messenger from King Grol to the Red Men!" responds Rory with a nod to Droop. Dropping his voice, he adds, "...or, we just capture one of them in turn."

Nothing else bothers you as you continue to rest, so you now gain the benefits of the hit dice rolled previously. If you have more hit dice you can roll more now.

Action is on the party, so feel free to continue conversing with Droop and discussing your plan. I will advance once the party moves on from the room or something in the world interrupts.

Tracking:
There is an open door to the south, where the bugbears emerged.
There is a closed wooden door to the north.
There are steps to the east that ascend into the cavern with the crevasse.

did we rest / find Droop in the room to the south, and are there other exits from that room, or is that location still unexplored? if so, I'd say we head that way.

Agreed to look there, from whence the bugbears came

Zove considered Gelin's thoughts carefully. Perhaps he was right in the end, was it really worth travelling with the little grub for so long and for something that might not be a sure thing? He didnt press the issue and continued south with Rory.

The room where you are currently resting is the bugbear room to the south of the hall. Across the hallway is a door (to the north), and the hallway forks east up the stairs to the cavern with the large crevasse.

Sounds like door it is then.

As Zove tightens the tattered cuff on his mangled desert armor, the rope at his side springs to life as if carried by a hawk. The rope encircles the door handle, and after waiting for a nod of confirmation from the party, he pulls it open.

Rory grips his hammer and nods to Zove, ready to pounce on any threat from behind the door!

Sorry for the delay, didn't have as much time to post on vacation as I thought I would.

The door swings open to reveal a large room with several large tables and chairs scattered around it. Wooden benches are drawn up around walls decorated with draperies of brown and red, and several ale kegs are propped up and tapped. Another wooden door is on the far wall.

Four tough-looking humans warriors wearing scarlet cloaks are gathered around one of the tables. A stack of coins and trinkets is heaped upon the tabletop between them.

"Wha? Huzzat? I wuzzaboutto win, you arseface!" one of the men drunkenly addresses Zove. The heavily-inebriated ruffians reach quickly for swords laying nearby and charge the intruders outside their door.

Shortsword vs. Zove: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Shortsword vs. Zove: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Shortsword vs. Rory: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Shortsword vs. Rory: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

The ruffians charge out the door into the narrow hall, thirsty for violence. The hallway is quickly bottlenecked, causing two of the men to stand defensively (and impatiently) behind the others, who meet Rory and Zove in combat. Zove calmly slaps aside two pathetic strikes from a ruffian, causing the human to back away and flee in fear. Rory smacks the other incoming shortsword with his hammer, causing it to fly from the ruffian's hand and land near the stairs ascending to the east.

Round 1 Order:
Redbrand Ruffians
Players <=====

Tracking:
One ruffian is weaponless and engaged in melee combat with Rory.
One ruffian is fleeing away from Zove, behind the last two ruffians, who are dodging.
The hall is narrow, and there is only room for two melee combatants for each side.
Ranged attacks can be made, but in such tight quarters, are at risk of friendly fire.

If I disengage could I run around everyone and block their retreat?
If so, I want to do that after attack of opportunity

AoO: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
Dmg: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

If I can't cut off the escape with disengage, I'll just attack Rory's target.

Attack 1: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Dmg: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Attack 2: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Dmg: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

Idrix grins. And fire erupts beneath the warrior facing Rory.

Create bonfire, dex dc 13 to evade

Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 4

warhammer: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 for: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Rory winds up his hammer to strike at the bandit in front of him--but the drunken man stumbles into him, knocking him off-balance before he can swing.

Gelin pulls out his rapier and hops in after Rory, stabbing the drunken bandit in the leg.

rapier: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19
damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Unfortunately the hallway is too narrow for Zove to move through the Redbrands in back, but if he moves up to engage them and attack Rory's target, that will allow room for Gelin's attack as well, thanks to the opening left by the fleeing Redbrand.

Redbrand Ruffian DEX Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Zove clips the fleeing ruffian in the back of his leg, then steps forward and turns to strike Rory's weaponless target. At the same time, Idrix causes a bonfire to rage at the man's feet, burning them and sending him stumbling into Rory. The collision throws off Rory's swing and causes Zove to come up short with both of his cuts. Without his weapon, the ruffian gets back up and tries to tangle with Zove, opening opportunities for his companions (Action: Aid). Gelin uses the opening to sneak his rapier into the man's thigh to draw blood.

Zove turns his swords back to deflect two incoming swords, attempting to then twist away from them as they dart back in. In the process, he collides with the weaponless ruffian, taking two cuts and 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4 + 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6 piercing damage (10 total). Back in the room, the frightened ruffian looks for an opportunity to strike, but the wobble of his knees betrays his fear (Action: Dodge).

Round 1 Order:
Redbrand Ruffians
Players <=====

Tracking:
One ruffian is weaponless and engaged in melee combat with Rory and Zove.
Zove is also engaged in melee combat with two other ruffians.
The last ruffian is standing defensively in fear behind the others.
Ranged attacks can be made, but in such tight quarters, are at risk of friendly fire.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I think Help action can only give advantage to one ally (one attack), not both? No need to retcon just asking

Zove grimaces and responds with a flash of dancing reflections off his metallic scimitars resembling distant lightning...trying to quickly cut down the disarmed combatant.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22
Dmg: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Attack 2: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Dmg: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Idrix winks, and the bonfire splutters out.

He winks again, and it appears under one of Zove's opponents.

Create bonfire, dex save 13 to avoid

Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 2

You are correct, that's my mistake, I was rushing a bit to get that post out. They actually have disadvantage on their attacks, so only the first one should have canceled out. I'll re-roll and retcon the damage, using the rolls in the same order.

Ruffian 1 Attack 1: 5
Ruffian 1 Attack 2 (Disadvantage): 19 or 6
Ruffian 2 Attack 1 (Disadvantage): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7 or 21
Ruffian 2 Attack 2 (Disadvantage): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15 or 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

Only 1 attack hits, so we'll use the first damage roll from the post (4 damage) so Zove regains 6 HP. I'll resolve the round 2 actions once Gelin and Rory have had time to post theirs.

warhammer: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10for: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Rory again swings at the weaponless ruffian in front of him, somewhat clumsily in the confined hallway.

Heads up travelling a few days! Feel free to bot...if anyone is still around!

...and Im back. Anyone else around?

Aye!